randolph



l Riehen-cl F. Ranolph.

Imy`tn Apparatus im' Coupling Caxs.

PATENTED SEP 201870 Figy RICHARD r. RANDOLPH, Jn., or nAsr PALESTINE, OHIO.

Letters Patent No. 107,623, dated September 20, 187 0.

EMPRO'VEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR COUPLING- CARS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

-To all @hom it may concern:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of two cars, having my apparatus attachedg Figure 2 is a plan view of the npperside of the same; and

Figure 3 is an end elevation of said cats.' Letters of like name and kind refer to'like parts in 'each of the figures.

-My invention is designedlto assist iin the operations of connecting together and detaching cars upon which couplings of ordinary consti-action areemployed; and

it consists in the employment of a series of levers pivoted to or upon the car, and so arranged with ref'- crence to the link as to enable the saine to be adjusted to position vertically, substantially as hereinafter set forth.

In the annexed drawing- A represents a car of ordinary construction, provided with the usual running gear, and having a projecting roof, B, and platform, C, at either end.

Resting in suitable supports, secured to thelbwcr side of the platform O, is an ordinary bell-month draWbar, D, for containing one end of a straight link, E, which link is secured therein oy means ofa pin, F, passing vertically through a suitable opening provided in and through said draw-bar.

As thus constructed the coupling devices are the saine as those most commonly used, and are open to serious objection by reason of the great danger to life life or limb occasioned by the operations of connecting or detaching the ears, which objections arc entirely removed by means of the hcreinader-described dcvices.v g

livoted to or upon the platform G is a lever, (lr,

which extends from the outer side of the car inward, downward, and again inward, as seen in fig. 3, so as to bring its inner end immediately beneath the link E,

. so that, by depressing the outer end of said lever, the

operator,'from the outside of the car and track, is enahled to raise and guide said link', and cause it to enter the mouth of the opposite coupling as the cars are pushed together.

A second lever, H, is also pivoted upon the platform O, in rear 0f the lever G, andlias itsinner end loosely connected to the upper end of the coupling-pin F, so that, b'y depressing or raising the outer end of saidA lever, said pin will be correspondingly raised from or dropped within the draw-bar. i

Bv use of these devices the operator can stand without the track, and, without the slightest danger to his person, control the positions of the link and pin with as much certainty and ease as by the ordinary means. it being desirable that the operator should be able to control the operations of the coupling devices from either side, and from the top of the cars, a second set of levers, G and H', are pivoted upon the oppositey side of the platform, and, extending inward, are loosely connected to or with the levers` G and H, so that a vertical movement of the former will produce a corresponding movement -of the latter.

Two rods, I and K, loosely attached atl their lower ends to the levers G and H, and from thence extending upward through suitable hearings attached to the roof '15, furnish a means whereby the operation of Said levers and of their attachments, can be readily controlled from the roof. 'Y

The especial advantages posscssedhy my device are that, by its use, the person of the operator, being entirely outside ot' the ears, is not exposed tothe danger of being crushed, and, thereby, he is enabled to control the operations of the coupling devices with greater ease and certainty. f

Having thus fully set forth thc nature and merits of my invention,

The arrangement, upon a railway car, A, of the levers G and G', thc rod I, the link E, and the drawhead D, when theseveralparts are constructed as described and shown, and' as and for the purpose set forth.

1n testimony thatl claim the foregoin g, I have hereunto set my hand this 23d day of May, 1870.

RICHARD F. RANDOLPH, JR.

Witnesses:

Hnnsnr F. RANnoLrir, J omi M. Drciilsson. 

